New Forum & News Updates

[georger]

They apparently made two DZ maps. it shows the jump possibly above Lake Merwin and to the 8:15 location which is just past Battleground and in the area where the parachute is noted on the sectional map. there is no link to it. nobody ever looked the position up as far as I know. you can see it on the flight path map.

My question concerning the lights was the fact of never seeing the actual quote from the pilots. I remember Jo speaking a lot about it so I was always ignoring it. I've read it numerous times on threads but no document...

Isnt there a quote by Ckret about Rat seeing the lights of Vancouver coming up? I havent checked the Ckret files to see if its there.

Ckret said something about them being in the Portland suburbs but I don't remember the rest of his statement.

The statement Rataczak made comes from Rataczak! Somebody interviewed Rataczak! Who interviewed Rataczak? 

Bruce Smith?  Ckret? 

Who published the statement ?   Smith?   Ckret?    Lalapalooza?

 

[Shutter]

Posted on TMN the other day....

[Shutter]

This report claims they were in the clouds at the jump point...

[Shutter]

Tom Colbert....

"I am in touch with Rackstraw family members in six states, and we have learned he died yesterday of natural causes.

"While my cold case team believed he was Cooper, he was also a husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. Our condolences to the family."

TJC

[Bruce A. Smith]

The statement Rataczak made comes from Rataczak! Somebody interviewed Rataczak! Who interviewed Rataczak? 

Bruce Smith?  Ckret? 

Who published the statement ?   Smith?   Ckret?    Lalapalooza?

I've interviewed Bill Rataczak once on the phone, for about 70 minutes in 2009. I don't know who else has interviewed him.

He did not tell me that he saw the "lights of Portland coming up," or anything like that. In fact, he specifically told me multiple times that he was over the Washougal, or at least the eastern part of V-23. He also told me - and was adamant - that DBC jumped at 8:13.

[Shutter]

8:13 is east of V23 and close to Scholl's airfield.

still sounds like Cooper spent time on the stairs prior to jumping.

[Bruce A. Smith]

I still gotta get down to Scholl's airfield and the SR 503 corridor.

[Bruce A. Smith]

Tom Colbert....

"I am in touch with Rackstraw family members in six states, and we have learned he died yesterday of natural causes.

"While my cold case team believed he was Cooper, he was also a husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. Our condolences to the family."

TJC

Wow. Big News in Cooper World.

Synchronistically, I just got an impassioned phone call from Walter Peca, the son of Walter Reca, about his dad. I'll be talking with him soon, with an update to follow.

[georger]

I still gotta get down to Scholl's airfield and the SR 503 corridor.

If you do, ask the old guys WHO was the last guy to leave Scholls for the Troutdale airport that evening - 11-24-71 -

 

[georger]

The statement Rataczak made comes from Rataczak! Somebody interviewed Rataczak! Who interviewed Rataczak? 

Bruce Smith?  Ckret? 

Who published the statement ?   Smith?   Ckret?    Lalapalooza?

I've interviewed Bill Rataczak once on the phone, for about 70 minutes in 2009. I don't know who else has interviewed him.

He did not tell me that he saw the "lights of Portland coming up," or anything like that. In fact, he specifically told me multiple times that he was over the Washougal, or at least the eastern part of V-23. He also told me - and was adamant - that DBC jumped at 8:13.

Where does the passage come from? Who posted it way back at Dropzone?

Or is this another DB Cooper dream.

The search engine at DZ is now useless since they changed the format to screw everyone - worse than useless. In the old days we would have had this in five minutes ... today returns 59,756 replies! 

<edit>  The passage came up when Rat was explaining Cooper's departure in relation to the "bump". Rat said 'it was five to ten minutes after our last contact with Cooper at 8:05, and we could see the lights of Portland (Vancouver?) coming up'.

If this isn;t a quote from Ckret then whom?     

[Lynn]

I posted a 302 page which I first thought was in reference to them speaking about 305. it turns out to be the chase plane that is doing the veering and right turn. this is where the radar operator gives a ground location. believed to be the radar operator.

The location is on the sectional map and does show a parachute.

Thanks, Shutter, and apologies if this is any imposition, but could you post/repost  that portion of the sectional map or link to where it can be found? My initial post re: this was more to do with whether the initial interviews had the pilots mentioning sub/urban lights (which they don't) and BR's reference to suburbs. I'm inclined to think that the last paragraph, confusing when the parachutes came on and the passengers went off, was more a misunderstanding by the interviewer or transcriber, as BR doesn't make the same flub in later interviews anywhere. The time of the pressure bump is only estimated as 5-10 mins after the last contact at 8:05, but for some reason over the years 8:13 pm has continued to pop up in reference to the jump time and I've been pulling hair to figure out where that originates. 8:15 syncs up better with this 302. Thank you so much for that 302 page ref!

If you don't think the pilots saw the lights or glow from the lights of the Portland/Vancouver area, just exactly what do you think they saw?  You seem to forget that they were at 10,000 feet above an overcast at 5000 feet with several cloud layers below that.  Also it was raining in the Portland/Vancouver area and that would further restrict visibility below the clouds/overcast.

At no time did I say I didn't think they saw them - someone else had asked if the FBI interview docs mentioned lights, and when I checked, they didn't. BR opined they were in the suburbs, but lights were not mentioned. That is all.

[georger]

Posted on TMN the other day....

where is this quote from - can you post the whole page. Posted by who?

(Im having to look behind my back now to do catchup! and keep up.)

So why dont we just go back to the default position and let R99 have his way - right or wrong no longer matters! 

[Lynn]

Posted on TMN the other day....

where is this quote from - can you post the whole page. Posted by who?

(Im having to look behind my back now to do catchup! and keep up.)

So why dont we just go back to the default position and let R99 have his way - right or wrong no longer matters! 

So this is clearly regarding the jump simulation - quick question, do we know what the weather conditions were when they tried to re-create the jump, and was it at the same time of day? I've heard little about the simulation.

[Robert99]

Posted on TMN the other day....

where is this quote from - can you post the whole page. Posted by who?

(Im having to look behind my back now to do catchup! and keep up.)

So why dont we just go back to the default position and let R99 have his way - right or wrong no longer matters! 

So this is clearly regarding the jump simulation - quick question, do we know what the weather conditions were when they tried to re-create the jump, and was it at the same time of day? I've heard little about the simulation.

The "simulation" apparently only involved a few basic items.

A weight representing about a 225 pound load (man, parachute, money) was slid down the stairs.  When the load separated from the stairs, the stairs slammed back up against the fuselage and Anderson (who served as flight engineer on the simulation as well as the hijacked airliner) said the resulting noise and oscillation was the same as when Cooper jumped.

A pararescue fellow walked down to the bottom of the stairs and then back up into the fuselage.  No one jumped from the aircraft.

Basically, that is all there was to the simulation.

[Lynn]

Posted on TMN the other day....

where is this quote from - can you post the whole page. Posted by who?

(Im having to look behind my back now to do catchup! and keep up.)

So why dont we just go back to the default position and let R99 have his way - right or wrong no longer matters! 

So this is clearly regarding the jump simulation - quick question, do we know what the weather conditions were when they tried to re-create the jump, and was it at the same time of day? I've heard little about the simulation.

The "simulation" apparently only involved a few basic items.

A weight representing about a 225 pound load (man, parachute, money) was slid down the stairs.  When the load separated from the stairs, the stairs slammed back up against the fuselage and Anderson (who served as flight engineer on the simulation as well as the hijacked airliner) said the resulting noise and oscillation was the same as when Cooper jumped.

A pararescue fellow walked down to the bottom of the stairs and then back up into the fuselage.  No one jumped from the aircraft.

Basically, that is all there was to the simulation.

Thank you, Robert, good to know. If the jump was not at the same time of day or in the same weather conditions, then whether the crew of the latter flight could see lights isn't relevant.